The wild-card face-off between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox is iconic in many ways. Decades-old rivalry, Championship drought, and a chance to end the debate about which team has played the best baseball this season, everything will be on the line when the BoSox face their biggest rivals in the Bronx on September 30. However, unlike the Yankees fans, certain Boston fans may not be able to cheer for their favorite team in a best-of-three series, despite their will.

Those who don’t know yet, an unwelcome message appeared on Ticketmaster for anyone trying to buy tickets to the games in New York. The site alerted buyers that only fans from a certain area could buy tickets. “Yankee Stadium in located in Bronx, New York. Sales to this event will be restricted to residents of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania will be canceled without notice and refunds given,” the warning reads. When asked about the reason behind such a strategy, Ticketmaster simply said that the decision is made by the Yankees only.

Lisa Gresci of Boston’s 7NEWS wrote, “Ticketmaster says sometimes geographic restrictions are put in place to give local fans the best chance to attend the game, and this decision to limit ticket purchasing to select states was made by the Yankees.” This move has effectively stopped fans from buying tickets from other regions, especially the loyal Red Sox fans residing in New England.

Reacting to the Yankees’ ticketing strategy, one Red Sox fan told Boston’s 7NEWS, “Born and raised Red Sox fan, I want to go, so that’s horrible, that’s ridiculous!” And mind you, the Red Sox fans may not be the only fans who could face this situation. Once the Wild Card Series closes, the winner will earn a trip north of the border and face the Toronto Blue Jays, who also finished with the same record as the Yankees but won the AL East on a tiebreaker.

As the top seed, the Jays get a bye and will host Games 1 and 2 of the AL Division Series. Games 3 and 4 would then return to either Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park, depending on the wild-card result. In that case, if the Jays play their away games in New York, the policy will block their fans from purchasing tickets as well.

A Yankees representative said to CBC News that the policy is “to fight ticket scalping.” But this excuse doesn’t hold much water, as the team is simply trying to keep their loud supporters at the stadium. In direct contrast, the Red Sox organization has made it clear they will not retaliate, as a team representative said to CBC, “We do not limit purchase eligibility at Fenway Park.”

Now, this policy will force Red Sox and Blue Jays fans to find a friend in the “approved zone” to buy tickets for themselves or pay inflated prices on secondary resale sites. But is this a new low for the rivalry in baseball?

A common tactic across sports

Unlike the Yankees, the Red Sox have a completely open policy. They allow away fans from any location to buy tickets to their home games.

However, this is not the first time the Pinstripes have used this policy. They employed the same strategy against Cleveland Guardians fans during the 2022 ALDS. Even Canadian sports fans have also faced this before, in 2023, when the NHL’s Florida Panthers restricted sales to U.S. residents for 24 hours to limit the massive fanbase of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

This strategy is actually quite common across Major League Baseball, as there are several reports about the San Diego Padres and the Philadelphia Phillies that have used similar restrictions.

And the practice of “geofencing” tickets is widespread across all major American sports, as the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks famously blocked California residents from buying tickets for a championship game against the 49ers. In the NHL, the Nashville Predators ran a “Keep the Red Out” campaign against the Detroit Red Wings fans. And in the NBA, teams like the Detroit Pistons have restricted sales to counter the fans of the New York Knicks.

But no matter the times certain tactics are used, it never fails to enrage a certain fan base.